Typewriter bail



NOV. 4, 1952 MADDOX 2,616,546

TYPEWRITER BAIL Filed Feb. 2, 1950 IN VEN TOR. Pal/ I; fl. Maddox BYPatented Nov. 4, 1952 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE .TYPEWRITER BAILRalph A. Maddox, Los Angeles, Calif. Application February 2, 1950,Serial No. 141,907

This invention belongs to that general class of devices knownas-typewriters and relates particularly to bails which are employed forholding down paper upon the main carriage roller. In some of the oldtypewriters, the bails are straight and have bail arms extendingtherefrom that are adapted to hold paper close to the main carriageroller, and these bails are generally supported at their ends by bearingholes in the top sides of the carriage. The bails of this invention arenot straight, but are conflgurated and designed so that their ends arereceivable in the same bearing holes which accommodated the old straightbails.

The invention also concerns the bail rollers which slide along thestraight portions of the bail rods. The rollers comprise pliablecylinders, each cylinder having a coiled spring-like liner to which itis very snug, and a bearing of somewhat smaller diameter which has anangularly formed axis and a bore that is slightly larger than the bailrod diameter, this bearing preferably consisting of a coil spring-likeelement.

' The invention has among its objects the production of a means of thekind described that is simple, durable and compact in structure,inexpensive to make and manufacture, dependable and efficient in use andservice, and convenient to handle and install; devices that are pleasingand attractive in appearances and very satisfactory for use wheneverand'wherever found applicable.

Other objects, advantages and features of this particular invention willappear from a careful perusal of the accompanying drawings, thesubjoined detailed description, the preamble of these specifications,and the claims appended hereto.

Below, applicant describes one of the preferable forms of his inventionin order to teach the art and application thereof and show how to makeand use it in combination with any device wherein sheets of materialmust be handled, but it is to be understood that the drawings anddescription thereof are not to limit the invention in any sensewhatsoever except as the same may be limited by the prior art. Languageemployed herein is not to be construed as giving any unauthorized personor organization the right to make, use and/or sell the invention or itsparts as herein disclosed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention showing its position upon aportion of a carriage of a typewriter; the scale employed is aboutonehalf full size;

2 Claims. (01. 197-138) Figure 2 is a side elevational view of a portionof a typewriter carriage; the scale employed is about full size;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view of a pliable cylinder; the scaleemployed is about double size;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of that shown in Fig. 3;

Figure 5 in double size scale shows an end elevational view of a coiledliner for the cylinder of Figs. 3 and 4;

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of that shown in Fig. 5;

Figure 7 is an end elevational view of a coiled bearing element adaptedto telescope the liner shown in Figs. 5 and 6; this being shown also indouble size scale; x

Figure 8 is a side elevational view of that shown in Fig. '7;

' Figure 9 in double size scale is an'end elevational view of the entirebail roller;

Figure 10, double size scale, is a side elevational view of the coiledbearing in angular formation, this shows how the bearing of Fig. 8 isbent before it is slid onto the bail rod.

The invention, as illustrated, is shown in com bination with an ofiicedesk type Underwood typewriter. Since this invention is concernedonly-with the upper portion of a typewriter, that is, when the'inventionis employed with a typewriter, only the essential parts of thetypewriter are illustrated and recited.- Such a typewriter machine has amain paper roller I that is supported by end spindles 2 and 3 that haveproper bearing in the end plates 4 and 5, respectively. The top andouter portions of the end plates are covered by a suitable cover-plate,these coverplates being indicated by the reference characters 6 and I.The back paper feed-plate is indicated at 8.

As shown in Fig. 2, the cover-plate I has been omitted in order tobetter show the bearing bore 9; there being a similar bore Ill in theother endplate 4. A small tab portion ll of the end-plate 5 has beenbent downwardly to accommodate one end of a coiled tension spring l2.

The bail consists of a straight portion of round rod 13, one end beingbent at M and the very end having another bent portion which passesthrough the bore Ill. The other end of the bail has a bent portion itand then an outwardly bent portion I! which passes through the bearingbore 9, this end is further bent to form the downwardly directed leg 18from which there is the forwardly bent portion I9, the very end of whichserves as a stop to limit the upwardly motion of the bail in that suchbails are raised in order to insert paper and for other purposes whichare well known to operators of such machines. The lower end of thespring I2 is fixed to the under portion of the headed. rivet 20.Obviously, the purpose of the spring is to keep the bail rod downwardlyand constantly urged against the large roller, but when the bail islifted to its vertical position, this same spring main.- tains same inthis position until forced downwardly.

As in usual practice, the bail I3 is provided with the pair of slidablesmall rollers 2| and 22. As can be seen, by reference to Figs. 3 to 10,each small roller has an outer cylinder 23 which is snugly forced onto acoiled spring element 24, and this element telescoped by a smallerspring element 25. The ends 26 of this smaller element are bent, asindicated in Fig. 9 so that the larger spring. element 24 will bemaintained within the confines of its ends in that there is sufiicientclearance between the two spring elements so that the larger one willreadily roll. around the smaller one. In order to create sumcientfriction between the smaller spring and the bail rod so that the smallrollers' 2| and 22 can be set in any desired position along the bailrod, the smaller spring elements are bent as shown in Fig 10 prior tobeing placed onto the rod I3. For purposes of smoother rolling action,the two spring elements 24 and 25 are wound in opposite directions,however, they may be wound in the same direction and still be useful andhave free action of rotation, but it is preferred to wind them inopposite direction in order to avoid any likelihood of the convolute ofone spring becoming trapped in: the rooves between the convolutes of theother spring.

When the bail is assembled and placed a certain procedure is followed.The first step is to take the bailrod 13 without its small rollers andinsert the end I through the hole 9. The second step is to force asingle bent spring element 25 onto the rod end l5 and to its positionnear the end portion I 6. Third step is to force the spring 24 onto therod and over the top of spring 25, and the final step is to pass therubber cylinder 23 onto the rod and force itonto the large spring 24.

It is, of course, understood thatvarious changes and modifications maybe made in the details of form, style, design, andv construction of thewhole or any part of the specifically described embodiment of thisinvention without departing from the spirit thereof in that such changesand modifications are considered as being within the scope of thefollowing claims:

I claim:

1. In a bail device for typewriter rollers, the bail comprising astraight portion of rigid rod with end extensions rearwardly directedwhen the bail is in its normal downward position, one of the extensionshaving a turned portion which forms a bearing and is adapted to enter abore, the other extension having a laterally directed short portion forpositioning in a fixed supporting bore, this latter extension from itsend having a downwardly directed crank-like portion with a springattached thereto for holding the crank portion in either a downwardposition or in an upward position, a stop integral with the crank-likeportion to limit the upward movement of the straight rod portion, a pairof small rollers on the straight rod portion, each small rollerconsisting of an outer surface and inner surface which has a linersnugly engaged therewith and a bearing element adapted to slide alongthe bail rod, and means maintaining the liner in position on its bearingelement.

2'. The device recited in claim 1 wherein the bearing element is acoiled spring wire and the liner is a coiled spring wire wound in theopposite direction to that of its bearing element.

RALPH A. MADDOX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of. record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

